This film was a short and experimental starring Allen Ginsberg, an American poet. The director superimposes a lot of images (including the globe, the American flag, and petition signs) over well-known political figures and moments. I found the compositional elements very interesting, and liked that they were illustrations of the poem. For example, when the poem talked about the hippies in the 70's, it showed multiple cuts of protestors and people smoking.
My biggest problem with the video was the prominence of the poet. He was often the main focus - right in the center taking up the majority of the screen - and I couldn't seem to connect his importance to the actual images. I think it would have been more impactful if solely his voice and words were paired with the images shown. His odd face and facial expressions were very distracting for me.
The whole film being in black and white made it more serious, because I think it would have seemed foolish with all of the special effects and the poet reading the poem looking directly into the camera. Because the nature of the political issues is serious, it made sense to carry the serious tone through the use of black and white film.
No comments:
Post a Comment